1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a remote control apparatus and electronic appliance controllable by the same and, more particularly, to a remote control apparatus applicable to a monitor camera system to be used in casinos or buildings and an electronic appliance controllable by the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional remote control apparatuses of this kind, a protocol has to be first established for an electronic appliance in order to output commands to the electronic appliance. Due to this, it takes a time of approximately 500 milliseconds, from an input of a command by an operator, to actually input a command to the electronic appliance.
Such delay poses a problem particularly when adjusting a timepiece built in the electronic appliance. That is, where for example a timepiece of 3 minutes too fast is reset at noon (12:00:00) of day, the timepiece thus reset will be too late by 0.5 second with respect to the actual time.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a remote control apparatus that eliminates a deviation between a time that a reset command is inputted to a timepiece and an actually reset time of the timepiece.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electronic appliance that eliminates a deviation between a time that reset command is inputted to a timepiece and an actually reset time of the timepiece.
In accordance with the present invention, a remote control apparatus to remotely control an electronic appliance having a timepiece, comprises: a first instruction key for instructing to establish a state of connection to the electronic appliance; a second instruction key for instructing to reset the timepiece; an establisher for establishing the state of connection to the electronic appliance in response to an instruction by the first instruction key; an activator for activating the second instruction key after establishing the state of connection; and a first transmitter for transmitting a reset command to the electronic appliance in response to an instruction by the second instruction key.
If operating the first instruction key for instructing to establish a state of connection to an electronic appliance, the establisher establishes a state of connection to an electronic appliance. The second key for instructing timepiece reset is activated by the activator after establishing a connection state. If the second instruction key is operated, the first transmitter transmits a reset command to the electronic appliance. In this manner, the reset command is transmitted to the electronic appliance in response to an operation of the second instruction key activated after establishing the connection state. Consequently, the timepiece provided on the electronic appliance is immediately reset in response to the reset command. As a result, it is possible to eliminate a deviation between a time of inputting a timepiece reset command and a time of actually resetting the timepiece.
In one embodiment of the invention, the electronic appliance exists in plurality of number, and the first instruction key includes a select key and a connection state establishing key. If the select key is selected, a desired electronic appliance is selected from among a plurality of electronic appliance. If the connection state establishing key is operated, the desired electronic appliance is instructed to establish the connection state.
In another embodiment of the invention, maintaining commands for maintaining the state of connection are repeatedly transmitted to the electronic appliance. Preferably, the electronic appliance cancels the state of connection when a state of not given a command continues for a predetermined time period, and the second transmitter transmitting the maintaining commands at a shorter interval than the predetermined time period.
In accordance with the present invention, an electronic appliance to be remotely controlled by a controller and having a timepiece, comprises: a first receiver for receiving an instruction to establish a state of connection to the controller; a counter for starting count of a time in response to the establishing instruction; an establisher for establishing the state of connection in response to the establishing instruction; a second receiver for receiving a reset command for the timepiece after establishing the state of connection; a resetter for resetting the timepiece in response to the reset command; and a corrector for correcting by a count value of the counter a time of the timepiece reset by the resetter.
If the first receiver receives an instruction to establish a state of connection to the controller, the counter starts to count a time and the establisher establishes a state of connection to the controller. The second receiver after establishing a connection state receives a command to reset the timepiece. The resetter resets the timepiece in response to the reset command, while the corrector corrects by a counter count value a time of the timepiece reset by the resetter. The time required to establish a connection state is measured by the counter so that the time of the timepiece can be corrected by the counter count value. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate a deviation of between a time a timepiece reset command is inputted and a time that the timepiece is actually reset.
In one embodiment of the invention, the corrector includes a detector to detect a count value of the counter and an adder to add the count value detected by the detector to the time.